


Gem

by Scribbleness



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24448735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribbleness/pseuds/Scribbleness
Summary: To guard one's feelings doesn't stop one from putting someone else on a pedestal. It just often stops one to show the truth. And blessed be their pure hearts. (Very short CloTi one-shot)
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Kudos: 62





	Gem

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Anything that is not mine, is not mine. The game, the characters, they are not mine. The concept of the story is mine, but the elements added that were not originally mine, are definitely not mine. I hope that's enough disclaimer!
> 
> A/N: I am sorry Naya! I need to get this off my FF7R high!

She watched him from the other side of the bar and stared before she realized that she actually didn’t catch what he was doing. He was sitting at the other end of the place examining a dart between his fingers with casual attention. His bright blond hair and his strikingly sky blue eyes did not belong in the slums if she had to be honest to herself, nor did it belong in backwater places like Nibelheim. And his obviously worn-out SOLDIER uniform only spoke of the elite. “First class,” he told her and everybody else. She was proud, she really was, even if it only made him seem even more distant.

“You need new darts,” Cloud said.

That snapped her out of daze. “Hmm?”

He looked at her, dart still in hand. “They’re already dull. they don’t stick that much anymore. It spoils the game if you need to throw harder than you should.”

“Oh. Right,” she nodded. “It’s not too hard to find a place to buy them, and barely anyone buys them. So I will as soon as I round up enough gil.”

Cloud nodded in approval and turned back around for his drink on the table. A few male customers came in, mostly she recognized as her regulars. She would put up her brightest smile, exert more effort on her body language just because that was how marketing worked, flair-tended if she should, and served. It was only late in the afternoon and the bar wasn’t as busy as it usually was in the night so her energy was still up there.

The respite arrived as soon as the customers left. Cloud was still at his table, lost in his thoughts again as he had been intermittently for the past three hours. She intentionally clanked the used glasses together and placed them in the sink just to make her presence known. She watched from the side of her eye how that perked his head up and turned to her.

“You know—” she started, and paused when he asked “Need help?” at the same time.

She giggled at the sight of him flustered by the mutual interruption. “No, I’m fine. I’m used to this.” She whirled back at him. “I was gonna say you should head back to your apartment, get some rest.”

“Why? Do I look tired?”

“More like… lost again.”

Cloud’s brows furrowed as he shifted himself on his seat to face her. “Lost?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “You look strong as ever, but your mind seems elsewhere. I know you just got here, and it must have been one hell of a mission. And I understand you might need some time for yourself.”

“You overthink,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “I’m fine.”

“Well, okay,” she said, a little strained for her small failure on her attempt to help him out. “Never mind, then.”

The discomfort that remained in the air grew heavier in every curious glance he shot her for the next several minutes. She tried not to look, else it would only remind her of how poorly she handled the situation. She only wanted to help, to reach out and recognize that he needed some deserving comfort with the best Sector Seven could offer. She was almost worried that he would think she was trying to push him away while she was busy with work, but she didn’t want to go there. She was satisfied not to see him annoyed or angry. Instead, he looked… intrigued? 

She didn’t know. She couldn’t know, what with the ambiguous silence and very few words he gave. 

The air had gone colder as night approached that she had to stretch her arms just to loosen up. Cloud was still there. It made things embarrassing, actually, especially with all the waiting he was doing. Hard to discern for what, and even harder to think of any reason why.

“You sure you’re okay here?” she found herself spouting. It was hardly harmful, so she went on anyway. “You’ve barely got anything to do here. Aren’t you bored?”

Cloud shook his head. “No, not really.”

“Oh, so you’re finding it interesting here?”

He smirked at her. “Yeah.”

“Glad to hear that.” She strolled to the other side of the bar where his view was closer to hers. “At least you’ve got company here.”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t too long before customers came pouring in again. It was getting late in the night, after all. She was used to dealing with all the work and every kind of customer, drunk or not. Her job had always been a one-woman show, especially when Barret was usually out with either the rest of the Avalanche or Marlene. He never provided an inviting image either, which would only make him a useful bouncer if anything. But she had filled in that role as well. After all, most people in Sector Seven knew better than to try anything funny inside her bar.

She gasped when she found Cloud standing on the other side of the bar. 

“Cloud!” she chided. “Don’t surprise me like that!”

He slightly frowned at her reaction then looked at the men lined up on his side. His eyes trailed at their drinks before turning back at Tifa. “You good over there?”

“Always has been!” she chirped and gave him a sweet smile.

“Hey, Tifa!” called another customer from the other side of the bar. “Can I get another round of this whatchamacallit!”

She nodded. “One Cosmo Canyon coming right up!”

After making the drink as she ceremoniously would, she turned back around for the sink only to find Cloud already there, gloves set aside on the counter, washing the glasses that had piled up.

She caught herself pause then smiled at the sight of him doing the washing. Calmly. Barely, she could make any of the guys do what he was doing even after a good scolding. But Cloud, wow, how he surprised her.

“Do I have to pay you for this, too?” she jibed.

“You didn’t ask for my help,” he said, his focus still on the glasses. “So I’m doing this for free.”

Free? She thought. Not very SOLDIER-like for him to do menial tasks such as washing the dishes. Or elite-like for that matter.

She smiled at him. “Thanks Cloud.”

He smirked. “Half of the tips will do.”

“Oh, you!” She smacked his arm lightly. “Keep up the good work and I might consider it.”

“Yes, boss.”

On the other hand she was thankful for the help. More customers came in and it wasn’t long before she needed more of those clean glasses to serve new drinks. 

Cloud, First Class SOLDIER, washing the glasses behind her. He was made and trained for more, and she knew it wasn’t an overreaction to be embarrassed when he was asked to take care of things even she could easily do. He had grown even stronger and braver, and therefore was meant for bigger things. Back in Nibelheim, she saw the potential in him because it wasn’t so hard to. Beneath all that scrawniness, he was definitely strong. So when he told her he would be leaving to become SOLDIER, it wasn’t a far-off possibility. 

It didn’t matter to her back then. 

The boy had grown into a man and so much more that he had become so out of reach. Maybe he still was the same Cloud she had always known in Nibelheim. The simple, thoughtful, and caring Cloud whose ambitions just happened to be larger than both of them combined. But still Cloud.

* * *

.

.

.

He watched her fight back tears and he felt stupid.

Tifa stood before what remained of Sector Seven, fists clenched and shaking on both of her sides. Every breath hitched to curb the sobs climbing out of her lips and her eyes were glued on the thick rubbles. A battle she gave everything into. A battle lost.

He saw how hard she pushed herself and fought not to let this happen, how she brushed off all her fears yet persisted to seek assurance that no one could be so heartless as to let a shitton of plate fall on a residential area which never fared too well in the first place. He remembered well how many times he told her it won't happen because he won't let it. And he meant it, he was really planning on doing everything he could not to let it happen. Too many people built their lives in that place, too many good people lost everything. The bar she worked so hard on was in that place and it thrived. Once upon a time it did, and he was lucky to see it with his own eyes. In the end Shinra got the upper hand. They always did.

"How could they?" she said with undeniable pain. Her head fell. "How could I let this happen?"

"Tifa…" he called to her as gently as he could.

"I…" She sobbed. There was no controlling it anymore. She fell on her knees and wailed. "I did this."

He shook his head. "No. That's not true."

"But it is," she wept. And wept.

And he could only stand there and watch it all unfold like a dumbass.

He didn't know how she did it, but not a minute later she was already standing up, wiping away her tears with her arm. She held her hands together and took a deep breath. She took one last look at the rubbles and turned around, her eyes still down.

"Tifa," he called her again.

She rose her gaze at him, crimson eyes glinting in the dark. She shook her head. "I'm sorry it took a while to get myself together."

He averted his eyes briefly when he felt that pinch after hearing her apologize for being hurt. "No. Take all the time you need."

"Thank you, Cloud. But…" She stopped there. She looked around at the ruins around her as if searching for a reason. She met his eyes again and they wrinkled with her soft smile. "I think it's time we move on."

How could she smile like that?

"Okay."

Tifa lead him out of the area and through the tunnels. They remained silent mostly because she was and he couldn't come up with anything good no matter how much he wracked his brain for words. Of course, that was so classic of him. Couldn't comfort Tifa back then, couldn't comfort her now when she needed it most. Then again, she had always done the talking ever since they were kids. That came with confidence, he guessed. Because why wouldn't she be?

Tifa pointed at an opening by the far end and spoke. "There's light over there. Maybe that's where Sector Six is?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. That's good," she said. Her voice was still sullen, but hopeful.

This was his cue to say something. Anything. But what? He thought about Aerith who was usually good at conversations without being too glum no matter what the situation was. Or Biggs and his smooth talking. Hell, even Barret could do better than him.

"Cloud?"

His heart jumped a bit when she called for him. "Hm?"

"Is there any hope that things will get better?"

Shit. _Shit._ What was he supposed to say to that? If he had to be honest, that kind of hope only existed in a fairytale deep in the Lifestream _and_ in a different universe. For as long as Shinra was still in power, hope was practically non-existent. But he couldn't say that. Not even possible.

"Uh," he stuttered dumbly. He didn't want to lie to her because that wasn't what she deserved. She deserved the truth! Then again, who he was to say that things won't get better? What if they do?

What if he could make them better?

"They will," he finally said. It was bad and he knew it. Even he couldn't convince himself.

"Really?" Tifa asked again. God, how could he lie properly when she asked so softly.

"If we keep on moving forward and pick up the pieces to rebuild, then that's a good start for something better," he said, and in a rare moment of victory where he would very much like to pat himself in the back.

Tifa giggled and hummed. "That's good to hear."

He did it! He made her smile! It was hard even for her at times like this. If anything, that only showed how really strong she was than she credited herself for.

Tifa stopped on her tracks and looked at him. "Thank you, Cloud. Really. Thank you for sticking around."

"Of course."

"I don't know what I would do without you."

His mouth gaped, so did his inner conscience's. Why did she always have to say things that required the hardest replies?

"Yeah. Sure. I promised you that. And I meant it," he said.

She smiled at him, and it was a real one. She turned back around and lead the way out of the tunnel.

If he had to be honest, if someone would stick a truth serum into him and make lying excruciating, then there was only one truth he held by— Tifa didn't belong in the slums. She never did, nor did she belong in backwater places like Nibelheim. No, she was too good for that kind of life. She belonged up there with everything she wanted and needed where her grace, strength, sophistication, and pure heart would shine brighter than anywhere else. A place where she would be looked up to like she should have been. Where safety and security existed, and no plate shall befall on everything she worked hard on.

Then again, she had shone to him more than he had _seen_ from anywhere else, and he had witnessed it all in the slums— the way she fought, she cared, and how she lead without meaning to. A rare encounter in anyone's lifetime. A gem.

As they neared the end of the tunnel, Tifa stopped on her tracks again.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied timidly. "I…" She trailed off and turned around at him with an earnest gaze. "Cloud, do you think you'll still be staying a bit longer here in Midgar? Have you changed your mind yet?"

Cloud shook his head. "No, I haven't. Besides, I got an interesting company here. I'll stick around for as long as she wants me to."

Tifa smiled, wider than before. "I'm glad to hear that."


End file.
